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West Bromwich vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Odds, Preview & Picks

West Bromwich Albion has holds its own against Tottenham and this Week 23 English Premier League fixture on Saturday at The Hawthorns will be a tough test for Spurs and both the underdog and Draw odds are enticing.

Odds Overview
West Bromwich Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Saturday 15:00 (NBC Sports Live Extra, Westwood One Sports (USA), 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT): Tottenham Hotspur (11-4-7, 32 GF-30 GA) heads to the West Mdlands to face Tony Pulis and host West Bromwich Albion (5-7-10, 20 GF-29 GA) in this English Premier League Week 23 fixture which will be equally important for both clubs with sixth-place Spurs in pursuit of a UEFA tournament spot and the host and 14th-place Baggies (22 points) sitting just a frightening 3 points above the Relegation Zone (19 points) despite their seemingly deceptive comfortable spot on the league table. Even 12th-place Everton (23 points) has to be scared to death about the remainder of the season and it looks as if as many as 9 teams may be fighting to avoid be bounced from England’s top flight of football come May 24th.

Soccer odds have Tottenham listed at +150 favorites over West Brom (+170) while the Draw is lined at +240 (bet365) in the Three-Way (Winner) marketplace. The Total Goals is in this game is 2½ Under -129 (Over +114, BetVictor) while the Both Teams To Score odds here have the Yes and No both priced at -120 (Skybet). Some random props: Match Result And Both Teams To Score sees the Draw priced at a healthy +375 (bet365); the Draw No Bet odds have Tottenham at -162 and host West Brom at +120 (Ladbrokes); and, the Highest Scoring Half sees the First Half priced at +212, the Second Half at +114 and a Draw (same number of goals both halves) set at +240 (BetVictor).

Tottenham Hotspur FC
Tottenham (5-2-3 Road, 14 GF-16 GA, 37 points) sits 15 points off first place (Chelsea, 52 points) heading into this road game in the West Midlands, so, Spurs primary focus for the remainder of the Premier League season will likely be to fight as hard as possible for a fourth place finish and that wonderful UEFA Champions League berth and its accompanying payday and if that falls short, hopefully maybe a fifth- or sixth-place finish and the Lilywhites settle for another season of play in Europa League. Tottenham is certainly used to Thursdays by now and the club is actually performing quite well in this year’s tournament and is still hoping to bring some silverware back home to White Hart Lane. Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino will look to the usual suspects to get the offense going here against the Baggies—Christian Eriksen (8 goals), Harry Kane (8 goals) and Nacer Chadli (7 goals)—but for this club to thrive and have any chance at that fourth-place finish (Manchester United is now in 4th with 40 points), Tottenham will really need some production from players like Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Andros Townsend, Paulinho, Ryan Mason, Moussa Dembele and Aaron Lennon. And losing and being eliminated from the FA Cup at home on Saturday by Leicester City, 2-1, can’t be good for the egos of Spurs players at this point on the calendar. Luckily for Tottenham, United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Southampton and Liverpool all also had poor performances in this round of the tournament and were all either eliminated or forced to a replay because of Draws (United, Liverpool). Misery loves Kompany, right?

West Bromwich Albion FC
West Bromwich Albion (3-3-5 Home, 14-16 GA) fired manager Alan Irvine and now has the affable Tony Pulis at the helm and since Pulis has been in charge, striker Victor Anichebe (1 goal in EPL) has scored three goals in four games, including a brace in the Baggies, 2-1 derby win over Birmingham in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup at on Saturday at St. Andrews. But in Premier League play, the anemic Baggies have only two players with multiple goals as we head into February—21-year-old Burundi striker Saido Berahino (9) and Craig Dawson (2)—so, it will be extremely important for players like Anichebe, Brown Ideye, Stephane Sessegnon, Joleon Lescott, Craig Gardner, James Morrison, Graham Dorrans, Silvestre Varela, recently signed Argentinian midfielder Sebastián Blanco and others to contribute or this club could actually be relegated. Luckily for Pulis and the Baggies, there are a plethora of really bad teams in the English Premier League right now and three others may play themselves out of the prestigious league by not being able to win on the road or not being able to score goals. Same story, different season. Anyway, this will be a big game for West Brom, as they all will be from here on out and it will need to get a big performance from goalkeeper Ben Foster against a Tottenham side which is very dangerous when in good form and Spurs haven’t been too bad these last two months. This will probably end up being a tightly contested affair.

Best Betting Approaches and Trends
The series, as far as Premier League games, is surprisingly fairly even with West Brom holding a miniscule edge only by GD (+3) with the series at 41-25-41 and the Baggies having scored 160 goals to Spurs’ 157. Here at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich holds a big edge over Tottenham, as WBA is 28-10-15 (106 GF-66 GA) in EPL play so Spurs apparently aren‘t so fond of this often annual trip to West Bromwich as the ugly -40 GD reflects. Hey, stay at home, city boys. The last time these two played was in league play in Week 5 where West Brom blanked Tottenham in North London, 1-0, so expect equal parts of Fear and Revenge to be in the minds of the visitors here on Saturday in the West Midlands where The Weather Channel forecasts a High temperature of 42°F (Low 31°) with PM Rain/Snow Showers (60% chance of Precipitation) and Winds NW 10 to 15 mph.

When these two met here at The Hawthorns in this fixture last season, the two teams played to a 3-3 Draw, but that match was the only one in the L6 to have gone Over (Under 5-1 L6) the posted Total. Some other interesting relevant trends of late from this series: The Both Teams To Score is 6-3 L9 in this series in EPL play and, 5 of those aforementioned L9 have ended in a Draw and a nice little payday for any Draw bettors. And here, a Draw (0-0, 1-1, 2-2) is a very strong possibility with the Baggies maybe finally finding some scoring alternatives and the visiting Spurs bent on revenge and staying in the Top 6 in the table. This won’t be easy for Tottenham, and taking a chance on West Brom at home—where it plays so much better in a series in which it has proven it can win at home—is the thing to do though moderately and the BTTS and plays stemming off are worth a look with Spurs likely to at least get a goal from one of its big three guns in this situation. This one could end up being a very entertaining game.